Unwelcome mat still out for many foreigners

[connaust]

"Unwelcome mat still out for many foreigners.

 

Today's Australia is the sum total of many nationalities, but it is still not an easy country in which to be a migrant.....

 

...It would be impossible, given their history, for Australians not to have an uneasy relationship with race, with national identity and with immigration. Australia's murky past is not that distant: until the 1970s a ''white Australia'' policy was enforced to restrict the inflow of non-white immigrants. Australia's non-indigenous population represents more than 95 per cent of the total, and a quarter of its residents are foreign-born, but still this is not an easy country to emigrate to. Even British people for whose trade or skill Australia has little demand are excluded.

 

Australia has an island mentality, and to the boat people from such war-torn countries as Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, hoping to start new lives there, it shouts, with less and less ambiguity, ''Warra, Warra!'' The vast majority of these afflicted peoples do not even make it to the mainland, being detained on Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, for ''processing'', a word with uncomfortably Orwellian connotations.

 

Politicians exploit this insularity for their own ends: in the last election, and indeed the last several elections, immigration - especially the issue of boat people - has dominated political discourse. Rather like healthcare in America, it has split liberal and conservative Australia beyond its traditional party affiliations. Zealous anti-immigration political figures have emerged, such as Pauline Hanson, former leader of the One Nation Party, who, in her first speech before Parliament in 1996, said: ''I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians … a truly multicultural country can never be strong or united.''.....

 

 

...Dame Edna summed it up when she said: ''I'm not racist; I like all races, especially white people.''

 

Hanson's belief that a truly multicultural and cosmopolitan country is not a strong one is misguided. Australia, despite the residual tensions and occasional conflicts, is multicultural, and it is stronger for this reason. For if ''white Australia'' still exists in the hearts of a small but not minuscule minority, there is a new Australian identity made up of varied ethnic groups. They are Greek, Lebanese, Irish, English, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Australian. And Australia is them."

 

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/unwelcome-mat-still-out-for-many-foreigners-20110630-1gsun.html#ixzz1Qm1u6lUP

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Petals]

I like the article its a good one. Not sure that the person who wrote it is at ground level with "ordinary Australia".

 

I also do not really agree with what has been said about "Pauline Hanson", not a follower of hers but I do believe that when she gave her first speach, she hit a cord with "ordinary Australia". The chattering classes damned her but the non chatterers applauded her at barbecues, in the pub and still do.

 

Ordinary Australia is not against migration as long as a migrant fits in or tries to when out and about. What they do at home is their business.

 

As for the people who make up the nation and the way they are spoken about, is showing failure as far as I am concerned, whilst we consider people as Greeks, Italians, Brits, Vietnamese or any other then we are not truly Australia, we are a country of little communities all pulling together sometimes and away from each other the rest of the time. We should not be calling anyone anything but an Aussie.

 

My oh strong accent how many times does he get asked where do you come from he says Somerville, they say no, where you really come from. That has to disappear.

 

Me I have an Aus accent so I get the nitty gritty down at the supermarket in a queue, talking with Aussies who do not know I am a migrant, that is where I get my true picture of Aus from.

 

As for the journos no problem for them they are not going to worry who lives next door, they can probably afford to move very easily.

 

Its very very complex and if articles could solve the problem, that would be a good thing.

[Guest siamsusie]

I love to watch my husband's face at the mere mention of Pauline Hanson, John Howard and Tony Abbott.

 

These three people would be on my wish list at a dinner party:biggrin:

[Petals]

I love to watch my husband's face at the mere mention of Pauline Hanson, John Howard and Tony Abbott.

 

These three people would be on my wish list at a dinner party:biggrin:

 

What about Malcolm you would have to have Malcolm too :laugh:

[Guest siamsusie]

What about Malcolm you would have to have Malcolm too :laugh:

 

I forgot about him! I think a small table for 20 would be sufficient at this stage:cute:

[Petals]

I forgot about him! I think a small table for 20 would be sufficient at this stage:cute:

:laugh::laugh:

[olly]

What about if I throw the other Malcolm in - Malcolm Fraser, the small "l" Liberal - with the dinner party guests too?

[Guest siamsusie]

We need more so called "religious" people around this expanding table Olly, I want Tony Abbot to feel at home!:biggrin:

[Glad I Moved]

Ordinary Australia is not against migration as long as a migrant fits in or tries to when out and about. What they do at home is their business.

 

 

How far would you expect them to "fit in"? I wholeheartedly agree that radicals who burn flags and rant about how much they hate Australia and what it stands for should certainly give serious thought to FIFO but where would one draw the line? I'm sure I don't need to point out that marginalising or ostracising any particular group because they don't "fit in" with a very arbritary and subjective set of norms imagined by a majority (usually with their own agenda) has never ended without tears before bedtime.

 

As for the people who make up the nation and the way they are spoken about, is showing failure as far as I am concerned, whilst we consider people as Greeks, Italians, Brits, Vietnamese or any other then we are not truly Australia, we are a country of little communities all pulling together sometimes and away from each other the rest of the time. We should not be calling anyone anything but an Aussie.

 

I would say that this is true for any nation founded primarily by immigrants, not just Australia. Just because a person moves to another land, they don't undergo a complete nationality transfusion at the immigration desk such that they relinquish all passion for their country of birth. The tribal instinct is still very strong and runs deep.

 

Is it curiosity or something more basic that prompts us to always ask "Where do you come from?" and/or "What do you do?"

 

Like dogs sniffing each others' behinds, we need to know who we're dealing with. Personally, if the subject came up in conversation and the other person would only offer "I'm an Aussie" I think I'd consider their answer to be more evasive than demonstrative of national pride.

 

I love Australia, warts and all, and would never consider moving back to England but that doesn't mean I don't feel a tremendous amount of pride for its history and accomplishments over the past few hundred years.

 

Cultural diversity, as opposed to conflict, is one of the things that makes Australia such a great place to be. As far as I can see, the "Whites only" policy of previous years only helped to maintain the country in a sort of suspended animation whilst desperately clinging to the last remnants of a sterilised and highly bastardised version of 50's Britain

[Guest Bob Tonnor]

I love to watch my husband's face at the mere mention of Pauline Hanson, John Howard and Tony Abbott.

 

These three people would be on my wish list at a dinner party:biggrin:

These three people make me cringe, they make me feel ashamed to be an Australian. However i do agree that many people 'agree' with these peoples policies, sadly i don not think they actually taking time out to really scratch more than the surface of such policies. I will remind all here that Ms Hanson just failed to gain a seat in the NSW upper house, that Mr Howard blatantly stole Ms Hanson's policies and Abbott has claimed to be the political love child of Howard whilst supporting these very racist polocies in the last government. To much outcry by the likes of Alan Jones and other closet racists and deniers of history and law, the City of Sydney council has recently voted to acknowledge that Australia day be renamed to invasion day, but look at the history and the law and you will find that that is excactly what it was. It was technically impossible for Australia to be colonized, the Aboriginal people did not just hand over their country, it was taken, hence it was invaded. These three people vomit up popular headline slogans on a regular basis to deflect the attention away from their real lack of substance. God forbid we ever end up with Abbott leading the country, his recent support for Reith (another lying racist Howard worshipper) to take over the running of the Liberal Party and then voting for Stockdale shows Abbotts real true colours when it comes to honesty and loyalty.

[Guest siamsusie]

These three people make me cringe, they make me feel ashamed to be an Australian. However i do agree that many people 'agree' with these peoples policies, sadly i don not think they actually taking time out to really scratch more than the surface of such policies. I will remind all here that Ms Hanson just failed to gain a seat in the NSW upper house, that Mr Howard blatantly stole Ms Hanson's policies and Abbott has claimed to be the political love child of Howard whilst supporting these very racist polocies in the last government. To much outcry by the likes of Alan Jones and other closet racists and deniers of history and law, the City of Sydney council has recently voted to acknowledge that Australia day be renamed to invasion day, but look at the history and the law and you will find that that is excactly what it was. It was technically impossible for Australia to be colonized, the Aboriginal people did not just hand over their country, it was taken, hence it was invaded. These three people vomit up popular headline slogans on a regular basis to deflect the attention away from their real lack of substance. God forbid we ever end up with Abbott leading the country, his recent support for Reith (another lying racist Howard worshipper) to take over the running of the Liberal Party and then voting for Stockdale shows Abbotts real true colours when it comes to honesty and loyalty.

 

 

I do hope you realise I wrote "tongue in cheek":wink:!

 

You voice my husband's sentiments entirely, he is also ashamed of being an Australian when confronted by these idiots.

 

Susie x

[Guest Bob Tonnor]

Thank you, and sorry

 

But i had to get it off my chest.

[Guest siamsusie]

If Abbott became PM, I would have to leave this country for the duration of his reign, I couldnt possibly listen to the rants from Mr Tasmania.

Susie x

 

 

 

ETA: There is an interesting programme coming up next Thursday on ABC regarding Howard & The Tamper (sp?)

[Paul1Perth]

Australia's murky past is not that distant: until the 1970s a ''white Australia'' policy was enforced to restrict the inflow of non-white immigrants.

Why is this always referred to as "murky past". This is one of the main reasons the country is as good as it is now and so desirable for people to come here.

 

The person who wrote the article quotes a comedian, who was obviously trying to get a laugh with the quote, and Pauline Hanson who received nothing but derision from everyone. Maybe they were all just a little bit scared of her.

Her views have since been echoed by non other than Angela Merkel in a speech about multicultural society in Germany.

 

"This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed," Merkel told the meeting in Potsdam, south of Berlin.

Do you suppose if Aus had adopted UK's immigration policies of the last 50 years it would be such a great place to live? I think not. We would have many of the same problems that the UK is facing now.

 

desperately clinging to the last remnants of a sterilised and highly bastardised version of 50's Britain

Now that's the type of Britain that a lot of people would never had bothered contemplating leaving and a lot of people heading back from here are looking for, that "little bit of Britain" that still seems like the 1950's. They don't want the Inner City multicultural society, they want the good old Britain, with British people and values that they remember and still dream about. I think it still exists in places (my sister in law lives in Tolpuddle and that would be a good example).

 

Them's my thought anyway. I'm happy that Aus has strict policies, even though it made it hard and expensive for us to get in and my Sister and family couldn't qualify. They are the rules we have to live by and that is why Aus is a nice place to live.

 

I'm one of the immigrants that reply with the suburb I'm from in Perth when people ask me. If pushed I'll obviously tell them where I'm from in the UK. I do get a feeling of pride to be accepted as an Aussie citizen and don't go out of my way to say how proud I am to be British. It only gets peoples backs up and I can understand that.

 

Here's a quote from a British politician from today's Telegraph.

Mr Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, will say that tighter immigration controls are vital if Britain is to avoid “losing another generation to dependency and hopelessness”.

 

He says only immigrants with “something to offer” should be allowed into the country and that too often foreign workers purporting to be skilled take low-skilled jobs that could be occupied by British school leavers.

 

 

 

So maybe the UK are going to be just as "unwelcoming" in the future. About 40 years too late I reckon.

[dferri2000]

Interesting thread. As migrants who have only been in the country 3 week my oh and I have already heard several heated debates amongst Aussies about immigration.

 

Most bizarrely though when we have asked more about the topic we have found that we have not received any animosity for being new to the country, with our very obvious English accents, and that most of the debates seen to revolve around the Asian population rather that any white immigrants.

 

It will be interesting to see responses once we start work in the next few weeks...

 

Deb

 

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

[Guest Guest 47403]

Do those Aussies that have issues with immigration tend to have a certain type of immigrant they dislike ie ones with a darker skin colour or are all immigrants viewed as the same regardless?

 

I think first generation migrants that do not have English as a first language will always find it harder to settle in through no fault of there own, surely once a second generation comes along they will be seen as Aussies rather than Lebonese, Afgans, English etc Although judging by the UK I doubt that's the case.

[cjdrum]

Australia is no different to any other country. The residents there love their country as it is, for what it stands for and for the shared values/outlook that its people hold and demonstrate. Their fear is that this fibre of the country will be indelibably changed if the cultural and demographic mix of the nation is altered through mass migration. There are some suburbs in NSW and VIC in which less than 30% of the residents are Anglo-Australian. This would inevitably give those areas a rather "un-Australian" feel. With increasing migration, and particularly with the increase in the proportion of migration from India and SE Asia, the number of such suburbs can only increase.

 

I genuinely don't believe that people are racist towards those from other countries, but a desire to maintain the nature of one's country is surely universal and entirely understandable. Look if you will at the cultural conflict seen in Dubai with conservative locals frowning strongly at the more liberal antics of expats.

[Petals]

How far would you expect them to "fit in"? I wholeheartedly agree that radicals who burn flags and rant about how much they hate Australia and what it stands for should certainly give serious thought to FIFO but where would one draw the line? I'm sure I don't need to point out that marginalising or ostracising any particular group because they don't "fit in" with a very arbritary and subjective set of norms imagined by a majority (usually with their own agenda) has never ended without tears before bedtime.

 

Fitting in is being grateful that we are accepted to come and live here, not demanding that the government make changes to suit other cultural practices, this gets right up people's nose. There are many many disadvantaged Australians and when money is spent on newcomers its not popular.

 

The liberal party did take notice of Pauline Hanson and took her policies because that is what the people wanted and will continue to want and there are a lot of bleeding hearts but there are more hard hearts out in suburbia and argue all you like that is what life is like in Aus.

 

We have our own vested interests.